A COMPUTER expert from Bramhall died just days after he was told by his GP that he was suffering from tonsillitis.

Ian Holmes, 31, went to bed with a sore throat but was rushed to Stepping Hill Hospital when his condition declined dramatically.

Doctors diagnosed the rare blood cancer myeloid leukaemia, but he died with his fiancee and parents by his side.

Ian, an IT consultant, had just bought a new home in Bramhall with his fiancee Kirsty Lowery.

The couple had returned from a round-the-world trip in June last year and were planning their wedding. Acute myeloid leukaemia is rare in young adults and can only be diagnosed in a laboratory. Ian's fiancee had also recently had tonsillitis.

Kirsty, 30, a teacher at North Chadderton School in Oldham, was still too upset to speak about Ian's death, which happened in February.

But family member Emma Lowery paid tribute to the adventurous young man who loved animals and travel. Emma, 22, told how Ian continued going to work until the day he died, and how the whole family was in complete shock after his death. She said: "Ian had been complaining of a sore throat and went to see the doctor who said it was tonsillitis and he should rest in bed. He'd been into work until the day he died, when he phoned in sick. At 8.30 that night he was fine. He went to bed with a sore throat but an hour later he got up to get something to eat and collapsed. Kirsty called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital.

"They said what was thought to be tonsillitis was meningitis but he would have to have a blood test and it was found to be leukaemia. He was pronounced brain dead three hours later. It was such a shock.

"Myeloid leukaemia forms in the body three or four weeks before the patient dies. Ian's death was not anybody's fault - by the time he went to hospital it was too late."

Seven of Ian's colleagues from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca cycled 50 miles from Ian's childhood home in Preston to their workplace in Alderley Edge to raise money for research into the cancer that killed him.

So far they have collected £5,000 in sponsorship but are hoping to donate double that sum to the Leukaemia Research Fund.